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Fabregas: Arsenal fans can hate me - but I had no choice

Cesc Fabregas returned to London from Barcelona - but he headed west rather than north © Getty Images

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Cesc Fabregas says Arsenal fans can hate him for signing for Chelsea - but they need to "move on" after he decided to join his former club's London rivals.

The Spaniard left Arsenal in 2011 for boyhood club Barcelona before returning to London in the summer. But instead of a return to the Emirates, Fabregas put pen to paper at Stamford Bridge - a decision that riled the Arsenal faithful.

Speaking to The Sun, Fabregas revealed that he never had the choice to once again team up with Arsene Wenger.

"Changing clubs is part of the game and people must remember it was Arsenal who didn't take up the buy-back option for me," he said. "What am I going to do - retire? No way.

'Mourinho made me feel special'

Cesc Fabregas scored his first Chelsea goal against Schalke on Wednesday © Getty Images

• Cesc Fabregas revealed that, aside from Arsenal, the only Premier League clubs he would have joined were Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs.
• "Once Arsenal decided not to take up their buy-back option there were only three other teams - all of them playing at the top of the game.
• "Manchester United are not playing in the Champions League, but they will be back there very soon. I knew they wanted me. The year before they made two offers to Barcelona which I was aware of, but Barca didn't want to sell me.
• "I had options and at that stage Chelsea were just one of the options I was considering. But after Jose Mourinho came to see me and talked to me face to face there were no other options any more.
• "I decided to forget about all the other offers I had sitting on the side and it just felt great that Chelsea had come in for me.
• "I can still remember exactly what he said - every word. I'm not going to make them public, but it was very special.
• "It gave me a huge lift."

"I can understand some people at Arsenal are sad, some people are upset, some people are even angry. But I have to look after myself. I had to make a decision.

"I wanted to keep playing football, enjoying myself and my career and I felt that joining Chelsea was the best option for me. There would have been a reaction wherever I had gone.

"If I had moved to Manchester United they would say, 'He's gone to a club that have been our big rivals for such a long time.' If it had been Manchester City they would have complained, too.

"Any team I would have gone to, apart from Arsenal, it would have been bad to them."

Fabregas received further criticism from Arsenal fans on Wednesday when, after scoring his first goal since his £27 million move to Chelsea, patted the badge on the shirt - something he used to do when in the red of Arsenal.

But Fabregas defended his actions, adding: "I was actually patting my chest, but it doesn't matter. This is the club I'm at and I will do everything for this team. That's my job.

"I would never intentionally do anything to create any problem with Arsenal or any other club. They can say to me whatever they want now, they can dislike me, they can hate me - but nothing will change my feelings for the club.

"I used to watch all the games even after I left. I still have friends there, I always supported them and I have a really good connection with Arsenal.

"But in football things change. I left Arsenal for a reason and I didn't come back for a reason. I left because it was always my dream to play for my hometown team Barcelona. I hoped people would understand that.

"When I left Arsenal I went with the mentality that I would always stay at Barcelona and I would never leave, but things changed for me there and this summer I called them and told them I wanted to leave.

"After my mind was made up it was then all about finding the best option for me and I decided to come back to England. I was always going back to the Premier League because, to me, there's no other league around the world that's better than it.

"Arsenal had the first option - it was written in the contract - and so they could have said 'yes' but they decided not to. They told me now Ozil was there, there was no need for me.

"That's life. No problem. We move on. Life moves on. Football moves on."

Fabregas also revealed that he has not spoken to Wenger since joining Chelsea.

"It was the kind of relationship I always would have liked to keep," he added.

"On his birthdays, for his 1,000th game, he always had a text message from me. But I don't expect anything from anyone in life, positive or negative.

"But I'm sure once everything dies down a bit in the future we will talk. There is no problem. I'll always be grateful to him whatever happens."

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